Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns was confirmed today at PAX South in San Antonio, Texas. A trailer (below) debuted during the panel, effectively removing the brakes on the Guild Wars 2 hype train.

ArenaNet confirmed, first and foremost, that they would not be raising the level cap or adding a new armor tier, with co-founder Mike O'Brien stating a desire to release content with substance rather than create a false sense of progression.

The new area is called "Heart of Maguuma," filled with new maps and a "tremendous" amount of space, as described by Colin Johanson. Players will be able to move above the jungle on the canopy, the floor of the jungle, and deep underground.

Here are a few features ArenaNet mentioned, updated as more is revealed.

PVE

New endgame progression: Mastery System

Example: Players go to a new zone like the jungle, with new monsters and creatures. As such, you will "master the skills and abilities you'll need to dispatch them. The jungle is a world unto itself." The longer you stay in the jungle, the more skills you master.

Complete elements of the story, explore maps, earn achievements, and so forth to earn Mastery Points

Mastery abilities are accountwide and available for all your level 80s

Confirmed Masteries:

Gliding, by way of hang gliding as a means of exploring the jungle

Lore mastery by understanding new languages

New abilities to overcome some of the new bosses in Heart of Thorns, for more combat depth

Regarding legendaries: Mastery system will allow "you to build out collections that send you on epic journeys throughout Guild Wars 2," which then reward precursors. And yes, there will be new legendaries and new precursors.

Specialization System for professions! Here are some examples:

Rangers will be able to "grow themselves to become a Druid," unlocking the ability to wield a staff and learn new skills for the Druid specialization

Necromancers will be able to equip greatswords with their new specialization

New specializations will be revealed later

Things to note: the reveal trailer seemed to hint at Mesmers with shields and Engineers with hammers as well

New heavy-armor profession: the Revenant

Rytlock will be returning as the first Revenant ever in Heart of Thorns. He can control the powers of the Mists, a throwback to the caster Ritualist class in Guild Wars.

Revenants will be able to channel "legends," like major characters of Guild Wars past

PVP

World versus World will be getting a brand new Borderlands map to the existing rotation

Objectives will become overall more important to the WvW experience

Keeps in the new Borderlands will be "themed," such as the earth keep. Controlling them will activate their defenses, such as parts of the earth keep raising the ground to defend it. The fire keep will feature magma pools.

Competitive PVP to receive new Stronghold game mode

Teams fight for control of supplies, and supplies can be spent to acquire troops

Reminiscent of GVG: Players can form Guild Teams in Stronghold Mode

GUILD HALLS

Gird. Your. Loins.

Tragically, no release date was given for Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns. Let the hype train continue on its current course.

Can't wait to see what kind of specializations will be available for Engineer and run around those new borderlands. They've been talking about themed borderlands for a long time, glad to see it come around.

Yeees oh my god. FINALLY a new profession, and it sounds like an awesome one to boot. Loved my Rit in GW1. :BLots of other interesting additions as well, so pleased with this~

Just saw some comments elsewhere asking about the Tengu race, something my SO and I have always wanted too. Would've been an awesome addition in this ep. Maybe one day.. ;A;

My buddy and I were actually talking about wanting Tengus as a playable race as the livestream happened (and many other times before HoT was even announced). So you're not the only one dreaming about finally being able to play as a tengu.

Tengu dreams have been a thing since release, in part because the map does a giant circle around their territory anyway. I think it was perhaps something planned, but the numbers for what races people play perhaps made it less appealing to sink time into in comparison to other things which a larger amount of the community would find benefit in.

This expac is looking awesome, I can't wait to explore the new zones and try out all the new skills etc. I guess that Rytlock must have encountered the Mursaat in the mists to be able to just barge into their city like that without being attacked. I hope we will also be able to get his modified T3 armor for our own Charr characters

I feel like expanding class specialization and adding a new profession was the highlight of this announcement. I've seen a lot of added content to living story and don't really need more at this time. That being said, I think everyone can agree that the biggest thing they announced was expanding on end-game...finally!